YES to all of this Elin ✨ you inspired a vulnerable and truthful note from me because of this post and have had me thinking day in and day out about this dream-driven theory.
I want to take some time to journal more about my dreams 📝 but in the interim my dream is to create a space that I’d LOVE to receive. (Even if it “doesn’t make strategic sense”) To follow my impulses and share what’s inspiring me. And to do so in a way that gives me creativity, financial freedom and inspires others to uncover their blueprint and their way of doing things. 🥰
Im so excited about this Megan!! The dream-driven theory has gotten me moving mountains lately, it definitely tickled something deeper. 2025 here we go 🚀🥰💕💖
I totally agree that following dreams is not all rosy, but still fulfilling with every twist and turn, the muse keeps us on our toes, a spontaneous, choreography-less dance of sorts.
Thank you for the invite to share our dreams and our Substack. I wrote about sharing dreams here:
Yay thank you Sarina!! You know how much your support means to me 🙏🏼 I feel something has clicked inside my heart these last couple weeks… the dreams are flooding again. Crazy how easy it is to get blocked up and so much work to unblock the flow again, yes always equally rewarding 💖
Thanks. I often feel like I'm the only one wondering why my wonderfulness isn't connecting. I pursue my dream every day, yet seem to mostly get it wrong in communicating it to people. Again, thanks.
Thank you for sharing Jill! It’s a fascinating thing you say, because I’ve often (and still do) feel that way in some contexts when perhaps the person I’m talking to cannot imagine that my life is a dream life…
I’m also imagining that communication can look very differently, for example (I saw you’re a knitwear designer, which is a future dream of mine too haha I’ve only knitted stuff for myself without recording what I did 🫠), sharing your designs is a way to share your dream with those who speak the same language 🥰 x
Elin, the point you made about things being easier pre-pandemic hit the nail on the head. I had a really tough two years in late 2022, 2023, and early 2024. I think you're right. Something definitely shifted. Sometimes I want to exit this world entirely where I have to sell anything online. To be honest with you I'd love to just write my book and call it a day, but it's not going to pay all my bills anytime soon. So, I offer services. I can only hope I go above and beyond for people. :) Thanks for the insightful article.
It always feels better to know we’re not alone in our experience - appreciate you being here 🙏🏼
2016-2020 was all exponential for me, it followed the typical “online business” trend and it felt fantastic. At first j thought the 2020-2024 results were due to becoming a mother and naturally having less time to work (close to none relatively speaking as they’re both home with me fulltime), but since I’m back writing for a year I realize it’s not a unique circumstance. I see it everywhere I look and the people I used to have as “colleagues” all quit. Suddenly, in times when I thought I was a failure I realise that I’m grateful to still be here. Maybe it’s similar for you?
I’m very into the dream theory right now because when u look back through my career the times when I’ve excelled has always been when I didn’t plan for it and worked for the pure joy of making. So I want to reconnect with the joy.
I love that thought process, Elin. I can relate to this. I think some of the most important experiences in my life, which later became stories I wrote about, happened because I was chasing a dream of mine. So it’s not just creatively where this makes sense, but also in the real world, which inevitably influences our creative life. That’s fascinating to think about. Thanks for the back and forth. It’s always fun.
My biggest dream is to work in a space where I don't have to trade my soul for money, where my values and priorities feel respected, and where I have the space to grow.
I'm trying to find my way around this right now, but I have hope that I'll get there one day.
If we all share the work we love, then we all win right (joy on all sides)? It's a game no one will lose, and yet we don't ask or maybe don't make the time to share the joy for a million totally valid reasons we make up in our heads.
Not just selling has changed. I even find it sometimes hard to believe how fast the number of ❤️ on posts and notes has declined like people feel too exhausted to do that.
I’m glad you bring this up, because I’ve experienced and thought exactly the same. At first I thought it was my newsletter only, but realised it’s across substack after speaking to some others too. I wonder what happened as engagement dropped by more than half across the board 🫣
Our dream is to purchase a small brick home, not far from ours, in which the bricks were made from the soil the building is on - and call it Earth Gratitude Studio. A place where we are creating, crafting, carving, weaving, and teaching others how to do it all too, of course, with nature in mind. It will be a space, even if for hours at a time, where digital devices are absent and community is being nourished through art and handcrafts, with an emphasis on hands-on work. That's the dream - and the plan, already existing in another moment in time.
This sounds heavenly Cheryl!! Similar to a dream my husband and I have to get a rundown farm around us and renovated it slowly into a creative space to house retreats and workshops of all kinds… 🙏🏼 thank you for sharing!!
You nailed it, Elin. To dream isn't to soak in a cotton candy-wrapped wonderland. To dream is to disrupt. It's to become a catalyst to actively change your own circumstances. You might ruffle some feathers. You may fail. But failure doesn't mean that the dream is dead. We learn more about the dream in failure than we do in quick, effortless success. We make adjustments and we charge forward again. In struggle, the dream becomes more and more valuable, and more cherished when we finally do achieve it.
And thank YOU Dan for such valuable and thoughtful comment! Cheers to more disruptive dreaming that makes us advance in the most wonderfully painful ways ✨
Thank you for being so open and honest about this...I've felt similarly with trying to pursue my dreams online so it's nice to hear that I'm not alone in feeling like I'm constantly trying to navigate this quickly moving landscape.
Yes it’s always easy to feel like we’re alone in our boat, when truly I think we’re more likely all in the same!
The Main pattern I’ve recognized in my own career at least is that it has always been going better across the board whenever I’ve been in seasons of pursuing what brings joy and fun compared to falling into the trap of doing what I think I should be doing…
YES. I loved this so much. We need more human art. Our dreams are not a coincidence. We owe it to ourselves to pursue them with everything we have. Thank you for this warm and beautiful reminder. I needed it today. xxx
Yes! I too am convinced of the absolute essentialness of following our dreams. I often say that the solution for every problem in our world today lives within someone’s dream. I do think at times the “watered” down version we’re given of what a dream is may keep us from understanding how important they are not only to ourselves, but to our world.
Thanks for this opportunity to shout out to the universe my absolute commitment to my dream for life! Although it continues to evolve and lead me on an incredible adventure, it remains the same dream that has been part of my entire life.
Your publication is one I have recommended from very early on because of your passion to follow that which lives within each of our hearts. I share that passion, and it is my greatest desire to help others remember and reclaim their true identity and reason they are alive. Thanks for the opportunity to share the link for my heartwork! Many blessings to you!
Love to see you here Wayne and thank you so much for sharing ✨ your positive outlook and dreamt energy resonates so very much and I definitely agree with you with the power it has not only for us individuals but on a much greater scale too 🙏🏼
WOW. The idea of the dream theory hits me deeply, Elin. I loved reading about your experience and your positive attitude toward the challenges our dreams hold that somehow never make it into our early morning musings. I can say I dreamed once and saw that dream come to its complete fulfillment. It can absolutely be done. I need to hear that myself as I has set aside the dream of my 20's to embark on another crazy dream for my 40's
Love how dreams always change and evolve as us too change and evolve with time 🙏🏼 dreaming is truly a never ending pursuit and Id even argue that the fulfillment of one (congrats btw!!), opens for even greater grander and crazier dreams ✨
Ps. One of my big dreams is to find an old farm in our area and renovate and decorate everything diy with my husband …. Dream ✨✨✨✨✨✨
Learning to embrace failure was a huge lesson for me this year. I returned to my business a year ago after a few years away to focus on my health. I envisioned picking up where I left off and instead, everything I tried flopped hard! It was very difficult but a blessing in the sense that I was finally able to face those parts of myself who feared failure and rejection, and who held on tightly to ideas of success, needing certain outcomes to feel good enough. In 2025, I am committed to following my heart and soul. I believe in strategy, but I also think the right strategy - the unique one that works for you - comes when we align with who we really are first.
Here’s to a year of experimenting, following our hearts and doing the work we were born to do! 🌹🙌🏼
I deeply feel this! Thank you for sharing Suzanne 🙏🏼 resonate so much, and I’d also argue that the longer we’re at it the more strategy becomes part of the innate process and we don’t have to use it as THE lead, but can allow to be led by heart and soul because we know the foundations of how to communicate it…. Just some thoughts 🥰✨
Great read and love your honest insight 🙏 I also struggle to promote my creative endeavours. Sometimes I feel more confident than others, but I want to keep showing up for myself and my work in 2025. One of my dreams is to have my affirmation cards reach as many people as possible as I believe they can change your mindset daily and are a fun activity to bring mindfulness into your routine. So I will drop my link! https://oribyemily.etsy.com/listing/1831662131
The fascinating bit to me is how it’s a continuous work, though admittedly it gets easier with the years of making my living from my art, but it’s still HARD to get over the imposter on other days..
yay so glad you shared it here ✨✨ I will have a look and hope others will too 🥰
YES to all of this Elin ✨ you inspired a vulnerable and truthful note from me because of this post and have had me thinking day in and day out about this dream-driven theory.
I want to take some time to journal more about my dreams 📝 but in the interim my dream is to create a space that I’d LOVE to receive. (Even if it “doesn’t make strategic sense”) To follow my impulses and share what’s inspiring me. And to do so in a way that gives me creativity, financial freedom and inspires others to uncover their blueprint and their way of doing things. 🥰
Im so excited about this Megan!! The dream-driven theory has gotten me moving mountains lately, it definitely tickled something deeper. 2025 here we go 🚀🥰💕💖
It’s magic ✨
I love that you’re expanding on the dream theme!
I totally agree that following dreams is not all rosy, but still fulfilling with every twist and turn, the muse keeps us on our toes, a spontaneous, choreography-less dance of sorts.
Thank you for the invite to share our dreams and our Substack. I wrote about sharing dreams here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/sarinazoe22/p/the-risk-of-not-sharing-our-dreams?r=17k3lu&utm_medium=ios
Yay thank you Sarina!! You know how much your support means to me 🙏🏼 I feel something has clicked inside my heart these last couple weeks… the dreams are flooding again. Crazy how easy it is to get blocked up and so much work to unblock the flow again, yes always equally rewarding 💖
Thanks. I often feel like I'm the only one wondering why my wonderfulness isn't connecting. I pursue my dream every day, yet seem to mostly get it wrong in communicating it to people. Again, thanks.
Thank you for sharing Jill! It’s a fascinating thing you say, because I’ve often (and still do) feel that way in some contexts when perhaps the person I’m talking to cannot imagine that my life is a dream life…
I’m also imagining that communication can look very differently, for example (I saw you’re a knitwear designer, which is a future dream of mine too haha I’ve only knitted stuff for myself without recording what I did 🫠), sharing your designs is a way to share your dream with those who speak the same language 🥰 x
I'm going to do a knitwear design seminar in 2025. Not quite ready.
Elin, the point you made about things being easier pre-pandemic hit the nail on the head. I had a really tough two years in late 2022, 2023, and early 2024. I think you're right. Something definitely shifted. Sometimes I want to exit this world entirely where I have to sell anything online. To be honest with you I'd love to just write my book and call it a day, but it's not going to pay all my bills anytime soon. So, I offer services. I can only hope I go above and beyond for people. :) Thanks for the insightful article.
It always feels better to know we’re not alone in our experience - appreciate you being here 🙏🏼
2016-2020 was all exponential for me, it followed the typical “online business” trend and it felt fantastic. At first j thought the 2020-2024 results were due to becoming a mother and naturally having less time to work (close to none relatively speaking as they’re both home with me fulltime), but since I’m back writing for a year I realize it’s not a unique circumstance. I see it everywhere I look and the people I used to have as “colleagues” all quit. Suddenly, in times when I thought I was a failure I realise that I’m grateful to still be here. Maybe it’s similar for you?
I’m very into the dream theory right now because when u look back through my career the times when I’ve excelled has always been when I didn’t plan for it and worked for the pure joy of making. So I want to reconnect with the joy.
I love that thought process, Elin. I can relate to this. I think some of the most important experiences in my life, which later became stories I wrote about, happened because I was chasing a dream of mine. So it’s not just creatively where this makes sense, but also in the real world, which inevitably influences our creative life. That’s fascinating to think about. Thanks for the back and forth. It’s always fun.
🙏🏼🤗
My biggest dream is to work in a space where I don't have to trade my soul for money, where my values and priorities feel respected, and where I have the space to grow.
I'm trying to find my way around this right now, but I have hope that I'll get there one day.
I’m sure you’ll get there a slow step at the time ✨
If we all share the work we love, then we all win right (joy on all sides)? It's a game no one will lose, and yet we don't ask or maybe don't make the time to share the joy for a million totally valid reasons we make up in our heads.
Not just selling has changed. I even find it sometimes hard to believe how fast the number of ❤️ on posts and notes has declined like people feel too exhausted to do that.
Yes it’s definitely a win win!!
I’m glad you bring this up, because I’ve experienced and thought exactly the same. At first I thought it was my newsletter only, but realised it’s across substack after speaking to some others too. I wonder what happened as engagement dropped by more than half across the board 🫣
Our dream is to purchase a small brick home, not far from ours, in which the bricks were made from the soil the building is on - and call it Earth Gratitude Studio. A place where we are creating, crafting, carving, weaving, and teaching others how to do it all too, of course, with nature in mind. It will be a space, even if for hours at a time, where digital devices are absent and community is being nourished through art and handcrafts, with an emphasis on hands-on work. That's the dream - and the plan, already existing in another moment in time.
This sounds heavenly Cheryl!! Similar to a dream my husband and I have to get a rundown farm around us and renovated it slowly into a creative space to house retreats and workshops of all kinds… 🙏🏼 thank you for sharing!!
Sending unconditional love and success to your dream as well ♥
Aw this made my day 🫶🏼🥰
You nailed it, Elin. To dream isn't to soak in a cotton candy-wrapped wonderland. To dream is to disrupt. It's to become a catalyst to actively change your own circumstances. You might ruffle some feathers. You may fail. But failure doesn't mean that the dream is dead. We learn more about the dream in failure than we do in quick, effortless success. We make adjustments and we charge forward again. In struggle, the dream becomes more and more valuable, and more cherished when we finally do achieve it.
This is a great, inspiring read. Thank you!
And thank YOU Dan for such valuable and thoughtful comment! Cheers to more disruptive dreaming that makes us advance in the most wonderfully painful ways ✨
Thank you for being so open and honest about this...I've felt similarly with trying to pursue my dreams online so it's nice to hear that I'm not alone in feeling like I'm constantly trying to navigate this quickly moving landscape.
Yes it’s always easy to feel like we’re alone in our boat, when truly I think we’re more likely all in the same!
The Main pattern I’ve recognized in my own career at least is that it has always been going better across the board whenever I’ve been in seasons of pursuing what brings joy and fun compared to falling into the trap of doing what I think I should be doing…
YES. I loved this so much. We need more human art. Our dreams are not a coincidence. We owe it to ourselves to pursue them with everything we have. Thank you for this warm and beautiful reminder. I needed it today. xxx
Thank you Krista, and cheers to more human art 🥰❤️
Yes! I too am convinced of the absolute essentialness of following our dreams. I often say that the solution for every problem in our world today lives within someone’s dream. I do think at times the “watered” down version we’re given of what a dream is may keep us from understanding how important they are not only to ourselves, but to our world.
Thanks for this opportunity to shout out to the universe my absolute commitment to my dream for life! Although it continues to evolve and lead me on an incredible adventure, it remains the same dream that has been part of my entire life.
Your publication is one I have recommended from very early on because of your passion to follow that which lives within each of our hearts. I share that passion, and it is my greatest desire to help others remember and reclaim their true identity and reason they are alive. Thanks for the opportunity to share the link for my heartwork! Many blessings to you!
https://waynestonerthequest.substack.com/
Love to see you here Wayne and thank you so much for sharing ✨ your positive outlook and dreamt energy resonates so very much and I definitely agree with you with the power it has not only for us individuals but on a much greater scale too 🙏🏼
Thank you!
WOW. The idea of the dream theory hits me deeply, Elin. I loved reading about your experience and your positive attitude toward the challenges our dreams hold that somehow never make it into our early morning musings. I can say I dreamed once and saw that dream come to its complete fulfillment. It can absolutely be done. I need to hear that myself as I has set aside the dream of my 20's to embark on another crazy dream for my 40's
Love how dreams always change and evolve as us too change and evolve with time 🙏🏼 dreaming is truly a never ending pursuit and Id even argue that the fulfillment of one (congrats btw!!), opens for even greater grander and crazier dreams ✨
Ps. One of my big dreams is to find an old farm in our area and renovate and decorate everything diy with my husband …. Dream ✨✨✨✨✨✨
Learning to embrace failure was a huge lesson for me this year. I returned to my business a year ago after a few years away to focus on my health. I envisioned picking up where I left off and instead, everything I tried flopped hard! It was very difficult but a blessing in the sense that I was finally able to face those parts of myself who feared failure and rejection, and who held on tightly to ideas of success, needing certain outcomes to feel good enough. In 2025, I am committed to following my heart and soul. I believe in strategy, but I also think the right strategy - the unique one that works for you - comes when we align with who we really are first.
Here’s to a year of experimenting, following our hearts and doing the work we were born to do! 🌹🙌🏼
I deeply feel this! Thank you for sharing Suzanne 🙏🏼 resonate so much, and I’d also argue that the longer we’re at it the more strategy becomes part of the innate process and we don’t have to use it as THE lead, but can allow to be led by heart and soul because we know the foundations of how to communicate it…. Just some thoughts 🥰✨
For sure I think that comes naturally after you connect to the strategy that works best for you. You need to learn scales before you can riff.
Yes, to constant experimenting! I feel you!
Oh yes! Never a one time fix it all…. Wow that would’ve almost been cheating? Haha
Great read and love your honest insight 🙏 I also struggle to promote my creative endeavours. Sometimes I feel more confident than others, but I want to keep showing up for myself and my work in 2025. One of my dreams is to have my affirmation cards reach as many people as possible as I believe they can change your mindset daily and are a fun activity to bring mindfulness into your routine. So I will drop my link! https://oribyemily.etsy.com/listing/1831662131
Thanks Emily!
The fascinating bit to me is how it’s a continuous work, though admittedly it gets easier with the years of making my living from my art, but it’s still HARD to get over the imposter on other days..
yay so glad you shared it here ✨✨ I will have a look and hope others will too 🥰